Norwegian soldiers are bringing their own “Viking mentality” and warrior culture to the training of Ukrainian troops for war with Russia.
Norway is leading Operation Legio, a new international effort to support, train, and equip Ukrainian soldiers for the fight. Battlefield training combines Ukrainian combat experience with NATO warfighting practices.
The training, supported by 11 nations, is primarily conducted by personnel from the Telemark Battalion, an elite mechanized infantry battalion of the Norwegian Army that has made aspects of Viking culture central to its identity.
Maj. John, the S3 Operations Officer in charge of synchronizing the overall training operation, told Business Insider that Norway’s Telemark Battalion puts great emphasis on building skills, but also developing a “warrior mentality” that allows them to fight and “thrive in harsh conditions.”
“We draw that warrior mentality from our Viking heritage,” he said, “and the Viking culture is very important for us.” He asked to only be identified by his first name for security reasons.
The elite battalion, which has deployed on combat missions in places like the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq, is represented by the emblem of a Viking ship, and the unit’s Viking-inspired battle cry is: “To Valhalla!” In Norse mythology, Valhalla is the great hall in Asgard for brave warriors slain in battle.
John said the battalion’s mindset is “not like over-aggressive, over-eager, doing stupid stuff. We take the best parts of that Viking mentality and then apply it to the ethical and moral standards that are required of our soldiers.”
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John said the training emphasizes both battlefield skills and the “warrior mentality” and discipline needed to “thrive in harsh conditions.”
“It’s a mix between skills and mentality,” he said.
The Ukrainians arriving for training are not necessarily novices when it comes to enduring harsh conditions. Many of them come from a military shaped by years of high-intensity warfare, and Norwegian leaders repeatedly described the training as an exchange in which Ukraine’s combat experience shapes what its NATO partners teach.
The way the Norwegians reinforce their approach, John said, is “through exposing them to harsh training.” The training, conducted at a camp in southeastern Poland, is designed to be tough, with daytime and nighttime operations and scenarios intended to replicate battlefield conditions as closely as possible.
Brigadier Atle Molde, commander of Task Force Legio, doesn’t currently serve in the Telemark battalion, but he said of this unit that “they have their culture, and of course, a warrior mentality is a good thing as long as it drives unit cohesion and fighting for something common.”
Even the training camp, a purpose-built training site in Poland, roughly two hours from Ukraine’s border, reflects that Viking identity.
Camp Jomsborg was established in 2025, and it began its fifth 51-day rotation of Ukrainian soldiers in late May. Norway acts as the framework nation, providing the main structure and leadership for the other participating countries.
“It’s all about the Ukrainian soldier and increasing his lethality and survivability within this program before he leaves for front-line war,” said John. The main goal, he said, is supporting Ukraine so it can keep defending itself and win the war on its own or negotiate a peace agreement on its own terms.
The name Camp Jomsborg comes from the legendary Viking fortress Jomsborg. Molde said that what characterized the Jomsvikings, a legendary warrior brotherhood based along the Baltic Sea, “was that they were very disciplined and professional warriors. So that’s where the name comes from.”
That history is visible throughout the camp, which Business Insider visited. Viking-inspired signs and a large Viking ship decorate the huge, purpose-built site where soldiers train, eat, and sleep. There are other references to Norwegian culture, too, with its streets named after figures like Thor, the Norse god of thunder.
Sinéad Baker
Molde said that “unit cohesion is important,” and that the Telemark Battalion was seeking to take what it sees as positive in its own culture and “try to give that over to the Ukrainians as well. So long as it has a positive effect, it’s a good thing.”
Plus, he said, “for one reason or another, the whole Viking mythology, the Ukrainians like that.”
Ukraine’s military and civilian population have shown extraordinary resilience under years of sustained Russian attacks against not just military targets, but civilian ones as well. Western leaders have repeatedly said that Moscow is seeking to break Ukraine’s spirit and willingness to resist and force it into submission. Instead, Ukraine has continued fighting and adapting, developing battlefield innovations and tactics that its Western partners increasingly want to study and learn from.
Ukraine’s military and population are enduring conditions that no Western country has experienced in decades, including heavy attrition, constant attacks, and enormous losses.
Ukraine’s battlefield experience and expertise are central to the Legio training operation. “We have defined this as a Ukrainian training center,” John said.
Ukraine outlines what it needs and wants to learn, and its partners structure the training around those requirements, with Ukrainian instructors also helping to lead. The program was built around Ukrainian requests and expertise and is regularly updated based on Ukrainian feedback.
Defining it that way means Ukraine can “hold us accountable for quality and delivering that realistic training,” John said. That cooperation, he said, “is what has made this an effective training mission.”
Many of the Ukrainians at Camp Jomsborg have real-world lessons from brutal warfare that their instructors lack, while Western trainers have decades of institutional experience and NATO practices to offer in return. Molde said it’s a case of everyone working together to combine those strengths and learn from one another.
Jørgen, a Norwegian instructor at the camp, told Business Insider that training the Ukrainians isn’t difficult. “I think it’s quite incredible how eager to learn they are in general,” he said. “It kind of confirms how good the guys are.”
